@fallenchemist:
Again, I agree on NO. That isn’t even diversity for such a small metro, it is diversity period…an insane amount that I really appreciate (NO is like a much more interesting version of my hometown, Savannah)
As for the thesis: Now, that would be a cool addition to Emory’s business school (I feel this deserves more than a certificate:.http://goizueta.emory.edu/degree/undergraduate/curricular_options/business_research.html and that independent projects/faculty collaboration should be encourage)…the idea of a thesis/more research emphasis because while I suppose the courses at GBS are more rigorous than normal (with a semi-high workload and a grading distribution) for a business school, it would be nice to offer a more intellectual component, but I suppose those who want that would just go to upper-level classes that allow them to directly consult companies and the like, but I still feel that isn’t enough and I don’t think I care for how much they function independently from the college. The whole reason I disagree with credentialling GPA’s even further (as in further than them being rewarded with better job placements and grad/prof. school offers) is because I just feel like it isn’t high school anymore AND the schools are selective which assumes that many or most of them are capable of “making the grade”. It is a university where contributing a body of work/giving back to the academy should be rewarded and credentialed by the institution itself.
Unless most of the “A” work you’ve done is earth shattering (unfortunately it hardly ever is, that is not what “A” means anymore…who knows what it means. At the very least I suppose it means, “your work was alright or better than everyone else’s” which can sometimes mean the 10-20% of students who did not make an A) or shed new light on a topic, then those students are indeed being rewarded for working hard, but are also being rewarded for obedience in many of social sciences (many social science classes unfortunately have “tell me what to do to make an A on the paper” syndrome. Needless to say, this can stifle creativity or deeper thinking and make many students simply try to “tell the instructor what they want to hear”). The same happens in many science courses. I like things like physics, chemistry, and math where problem solving ability is often being rewarded and sometimes both process AND outcome are rewarded. However, biology (which was one of my majors) is often a different story and many biology classes (which I think at many institutions, especially selectives, often have higher grades than the others because of the pre-health penetration. Advanced and intermediate courses at Emory for example, are much less stringent than general biology, which honestly isn’t but so stringent itself) are not taught or assessed in ways that reward actual scientific/scholarly thinking so more than algorithmic problem solving and regurgitation (luckily at Emory, many instructors are trying to fight that stereotype, but it is nonetheless a research university so you will have your stronghold of faculty who do not buy into evidence about learning or simply believe that designing a course in which surface learning is the key to success takes much less time away from their research). To give many high GPA people honors who went through such a curriculum is honestly rewarding surface level learning (which we mastered in high school…) that occurs much less than a pursuing a genuine research project. As you can tell I am very cynical about the way education is done, including highered. It is like a system has evolved to incentivize and reward only certain types of learning.
But I digress: As far as the prospective major of the OP’s daughter, I do like the fact that Tulane’s dept requires a capstone project: http://tulane.edu/liberal-arts/gender-sexuality-studies/major.cfm
especially in light of what I just said. Emory maybe only has like 4 or 5 depts that do that and only 2 that I can think of off the top of my head, Human Health and ILA. Emory’s Department requires a senior seminar, but not a capstone. One thing that the dept. at Emory could have going for it is that it contributes a good deal to the intellectual life of the campus (IE, kind of like Emory’s creative writing department, the dept itself is more of an intellectual community). Emory’s dept could be like this simply by virtue of the school being in Atlanta, but something like that may not matter that much to an undergraduate.